LUCKNOW, Feb. 18 -- The UP Board's High School and Intermediate Examinations-2026 are set to start from Wednesday in 75 districts under CCTV cameras and voice recorders. A total of 53,37,778 candidates including 27,61,696 in High School (Class 10) and 25,76,082 in Intermediate (Class 12) will appear in the board examinations that will end in 15 working days. To ensure cheating-free, transparent and orderly examinations, a total of 8,033 exam centres have been established across the state, including 596 government schools, 3,453 government-aided schools and 3,984 self-financed schools. The exams will end on March 12. Special security arrangements have been made to prevent cheating. For emergency situations, reserve question paper sets for all subjects have been kept safe in double-lock cupboards. Answer sheets include four-colour serial numbers, the Board logo and micro "UPMSP" marking, so that the possibility of swapping is eliminated. This year, for the first time, the examinations of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Education Council will also be monitored online. Under the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, strict action will be taken if any irregularity is found in question paper creation, printing, distribution or evaluation. Minister of state for secondary education (independent charge) Gulab Devi inaugurated the state-level control room established at the Directorate of Education (secondary), UP, Lucknow camp office, before the examinations. She said that the examination system has been made completely technology-based and transparent. A total of 18 districts have been declared sensitive, while 222 examination centres have been categorised as highly sensitive and 683 as sensitive. These 18 districts are: Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Hathras, Etah, Kasganj, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Hardoi, Kannuaj, Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Deoria and Gonda. "STF and local intelligence units will remain active throughout the examination period and highly sensitive centres will be inspected twice a day. Two CCTV cameras with voice recorders, routers, DVRs, and high-speed internet connections have been installed in each room of each examination center, allowing live monitoring through webcasting," the minister said. To strengthen the arrangements, 8,033 centre superintendents, 8,033 external centre superintendents, 8,033 static magistrates, 1,210 sector magistrates and 427 zonal magistrates have been appointed. Along with this, 69 divisional and 440 district mobile squads have been constituted. State-level observers have also been appointed for all 75 districts and 18 divisions to ensure that there is no laxity in examination conduct. For assistance to candidates and parents, toll-free helpline numbers have been issued from the state-level control room in Lucknow: 18001806607 and 18001806608. In addition, the toll-free numbers of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, Prayagraj are 18001805310 and 18001805312. Complaints and suggestions can also be registered through email, Facebook, X handle and WhatsApp. Control centres have also been established at Prayagraj headquarters and the regional offices in Varanasi, Meerut, Bareilly and Gorakhpur. The government has issued directives to all commissioners, IGs, DMs, SSPs, SPs and other senior officials to conduct surprise inspections of exam centres. The responsibility of monitoring the most sensitive and sensitive centres has been given especially to STF, LIU and local police....